Chapter 4 – Bubbles of suspicion

A/N: As time goes on, people will notice more and more, that something about Manuel is off. Still, the number of people Manuel will tell the truth about his origins is going to be very limited as to not disturb the story too much. That means there is a bunch of hilarious excuses coming our way. :D

-s-s-s- (7:50 am)

"Okay, here we go again…", Manuel sighed to himself, as he walked back to school on yet another morning, "I'm kind of curious, what's gonna happen today?"

Manuel hadn't even reached the school yet and was already pushed to the ground by an overeager black-haired girl that tripped and pulled him down with her.

"Marinette… Please get off me.", he asked bluntly. Marinette had a short moment of panic, and basically jumped off of him, before picking up her small blue package from the ground, "UAH! Sorry! I'm just super-excited! Happy birthday- I mean- See you later, Manuel!"

"Happy birthday?", the boy noticed immediately, "I suddenly get the feeling I know EXACTLY what's gonna happen today…"

When he did get in front of the school, it suddenly hit him. He fought a supervillain just yesterday. As a civilian no less. These people were gonna go crazy over him. "Oh god, what have I gotten myself into…?"

He thought for a while. "Should I skip school for a while until everyone forgets about that? Wait, no. That would just draw even more suspicion to myself. I'll just… keep a low profile for the moment. That's about the best I can do right now, I guess…"

-x-x-x- (Manuels POV)

I merely set foot on schoolgrounds, and I was instantly aware of the way everyone acted. Glances in my direction, with expressions ranging from suspicion to fascination. Quiet chattering here and there as the groups were watching me. And very nervous reactions when I looked back to them. Heck, one of the girls even looked straight down to avoid eye contact. What, was she worried I would fight her like the akuma yesterday?

"Well, they can think what they want. I won't stay here for long anyway.", I shrugged all of that off, and just walked towards my class.

Amongst my classmates, the reactions were exactly the same though. Wary glances in my direction, Alya was whispering something to Marinette, Chloe just looked away as well. "Must have left one hell of an impression yesterday.", I finally accepted, "Suddenly not so sure anymore, if this will resolve within a few days."

I still tried to act like nothing ever happened though. I just went to my seat, the stares of everyone still weighing down on me, and sat down as I took out my English-lesson-equipment.

But moments later, I became aware of a presence right next to me. "Okay, what is it?", I asked in a tone a bit harsher than I would have liked. I regretted that even more, when I realized that the ones next to me were Rose and Juleka of all people.

"Oh- uhhh- sorry, we just- uhhh…", Juleka mumbled around, clearly starting to hyperventilate again, which is why Rose continued for her, "We wanted to thank you!"

"…Thank me…?", I asked confused. I definitely knew WHAT they were going to thank me for, I just legitimately didn't know WHY they were going to. I mean, all I did was show a bit of civil courage. Was that such an exceptional trait here?

"For yesterday!", Rose clarified unnecessarily, "You were so brave, standing up to that villain all by yourself!"

"I should thank you personally as well.", Nathaniel took word in the seat before me, "My arms would have fallen off, had you not taken the position as the hero."

That was the point, were I just HAD to interrupt. I just couldn't stand all this thanking me and, even worse, all that second-hand-attention they were causing. Heck, I could ALREADY feel myself get sweaty again.

"Okay, I'm gonna have to stop you guys right there.", I cut them off, "Don't want your thanks, don't want your signs of appreciation, don't want your admiration. There is nothing exceptional about me. The reason all the doors got blocked, was because I tried to run and messed up, so I took responsibility for my mistake. There was nothing exceptional about that whatsoever."

"Except that you're the first non-superhero to ever face a supervillain head on. And successfully, at that.", Alya pointed out with a smirk I really didn't like. That expression on her face told me that a thought had taken place in her brain, and she sure as hell was gonna keep on that. I didn't know, WHAT thought had struck her yesterday, but judging by the circumstances, it couldn't be anything good for me.

"Please, I didn't do much. I just blackmailed the dude into letting my colleagues go. Which was pretty easy to do as well, since his attack-patterns were slow and easy to predict, with only a few exceptions.", I tried to avoid Alya making a big deal out of it, but only sealed my fate in the process, "That's the point, dude! Being capable of thinking so calmly in such a frantic situation is NOT something you just learn on the go! You have to be experienced in that sort of thing!"

"Well, MY experience comes from playing videogames for hours on end.", I tried reasoning again, making Alya go all sarcastic, "Mhhmm, except that only trains hand-eye-coordination, whereas you have way more than that."

I couldn't thank god, or Thomas Astruc, or whoever was overseeing the events of this world at this point, enough, for finally having the bell ring and ending this horrifying situation at last. No clue why Alya kept nagging me about these sorts of details and what she hoped to achieve with it, but I really didn't like it.

-o-o-o- (around four hours later) (12:00 am)

Well this was a fairly… uninteresting class if I'm honest. I mean it was just English and more history. The one thing I WASN'T prepared for, though, was to get sent to the principal's office, to both get praised as well as scolded about facing supervillains.

I just got out in time, to see Adrien get taken to one of his photoshoots and Nino leave for the Agreste-Mansion. Well HE'S in for a surprise. Not that I'm gonna change anything about that. Even though I'd really want to. He's way too nice of a guy to deserve that asshole-treatment.

Me on the other hand had my own problems to deal with. There had to be a way for me to prepare for the stuff that was going to go down in the afternoon.

I wandered the streets of Paris without a real goal. I stayed at the park for a little while, until I got an idea. Surely the trash-containers of the city would have some things that would be useful for me!

So I took off, looking for a mostly abandoned part of the city to loot around in the trash. In a back-alley, I indeed found a trash-bin. But the stuff I found there was curious at best, and straight up… well, trash at worst. Old food, damaged cartons, no longer needed papers, the list goes on.

But my trash-looting was yet interrupted by the voice of officer Raincomprix right outside the alleyway, „Hey, what exactly are you doin there?"

I was startled for a moment. I hadn't even thought about that! Looting trash was surely illegal! „Oh, officer!", I exclaimed surprised, as I dreamed up an excuse, „I was just looking for a paper I accidentally threw away!" I looked into the trash yet again, and luckily found an old newspaper with a headline about politics. „There it is!", I called out, „See, when I cleaned out my room last night I accidentally threw away the newspaper I need to hold a presentation about. Stuff about modern politics and all that, you know?"

He still looked sceptical, understandably mind you, so I just cut the conversation short, „Well, I've got to get going! Still a lot more to prepare!"

With that, I fled into the building that the trash container belonged to, but kept a close eye on the officer through the window next to the entrance. And after a few seconds, he just smiled sympathetically, tucked his hat, and moved on.

-x-x-x-

Well thank god that's dealt with…" I let out a sigh of relief, as I stepped out of the house, „I gotta do these things either in way less populated areas, or way more discreetly."

I went on my way, hurrying to another place where I could loot around in privacy. „I've spent about five minutes here. It won't be much longer until- WAIT A MINUTE!"

Even now I can't say, if what I saw was a trick of the light, imagination, or actual reality, but I could have sworn I just saw something that looked like a red and white shirt disappear around the corner. „W-Wait! Master Fu!", I called out after what I assumed to be him, but when I came around the corner, whatever I had seen was gone. Vanished between other people.

"No! Come on, dammit!", I cursed under my breath, "How can it be this hard to find an over 100 years old man?!" I looked around some more, but there was no denying it. Whatever I thought I had seen, I lost it. "Oh damn it all. Back to plan A, I guess…"

-x-x-x-

I just left the area, while making sure to stay out of Raincomprix's way, before I found another trash-container. And here I struck GOLD, I tell you.

"That's… an old camping-tent. Still looks pretty intact, to be honest.", I recognized, as I got that thing out the trash.

"Not even a bit damaged.", I realized as I inspected my find a bit further, "The fabric of the actual tent is perfectly fine. The only flaw I can tell by looking at it, is the rust on the set-up-bars."

I spread the bars out to their full length and tested it for its weight and hardness. And these tests also showed me, that the old ends of the bars were pretty sharp as well. "Hmm… If I were to… misuse this thing, I should be prepared enough for what's to come."

Next, I looked at the fabric of the dumped tent. It was old and dirty, no question, but for that, it was pretty robust and even seemed windproof. "Well that's just about as perfect as it can get. I literally couldn't have found anything better."

I pushed the bars back together, folded the tent together again, and packed everything in my backpack. Thank god that thing was huge and had so much space.

But just as I had finished looting trash for useful stuff, I could already see hundreds of purple bubbles float around the town and entrapping all the adults inside, before turning green and floating into space. "Not a second too early…"

I took my stuff and took off. "From what I remember, Akuma-Nino should be on his way to the Agreste-mansion next. And from what I have gathered so far, there will most likely be another energy-stone boosting his power hidden somewhere. Maybe I can destroy that thing before he even gets there. Not like I'm gonna find Master Fu now anyway."

"HEY HEY HEY! TODAY'S YOUR LUCKY DAY, LITTLE DUDES!", the villain suddenly started his announcement over his bubbles, with a voice so loud it hurt my ears, "THE ADULTS ARE TAKING THE DAY OFF, SO MAKE THE MOST OF IT! NO MORE CHORES, HOMEWORK, OR NAGGING! ONLY FUN FUN FUN! THAT IS THE BUBBLER'S GIFT TO YOU!"

"Ahhh! Chill out, man! No need to be so damn loud!", I yelled back at the bubbles, and continued on my way.

But I got to a stop, when I suddenly heard crying. A child, now without anyone to look after it, crying for its parents. „…Argh, damn my morals!", I cursed to myself, and followed the crying.

The child I found couldn't have been much older than five. But judging by its character-design, it wasn't more than a background-character. Much plainer, less detailed, flatter colours. Still, at this point it was an actual person. A child whose parents just got kidnapped by a supervillain.

„Hey, little one.", I approached the child carefully, attracting its attention, „Your parents just got stolen too, huh?"

The kid sniffed quickly, before answering, „T-They suddenly just got taken into the sky by some strange bubble. I… I don't know what to do!"

„Of course you don't. I don't know either. But I promise you, it's gonna be alright.", I reassured the kid, when I saw something red bounce in the corner of my eye. I turned towards it, and spoke to the child, „See that red dot jumping over the roofs?"

„Y-Yes…", the child confirmed, so I continued, „That's Ladybug, rushing to save all the adults. She's gonna fix everything. You can be sure of that."

I seemed to manage to calm the kid down a bit, which is why I then spoke my intentions, „Listen, little one, there is a task I must ask of you."

The young one looked up at me in surprise, „What do you mean?"

„Ladybug has to capture the akuma to make everything alright, but at the same time she has to make sure none of the abandoned kids get hurt. Do you think you could gather together the rest of the children and hide out together? That way you'll be able to take a huge load off her bag."

„Yessir!", the kid beamed suddenly, „What are you doing in the meantime?"

„I'm going to support Ladybug and Chat Noir.", I answered him, not really truthfully but convincingly, „So that you don't have to worry about them. Meanwhile, you just gather all the kids together and find yourself someone who can take care of you."

„Fair enough!", the child just accepted, and already took off, „See ya!"

Phew, that was terrifying. Kids always make me nervous.", I sighed in relief, „Still, it's not like I can just ignore a child crying all alone with noone to take care of him. And now I don't have to worry about the leftover children anymore."

I took a deep breath in and out, getting ready to run through the city once again. „Next stop: The Agreste-mansion!", is what I thought to myself, seconds before a bubble wrapped around me, „Okay, rude."

I was just about to fight back against that round, non-sentient bastard, when I realized, that it wasn't taking me to outer-space. It was floating along the streets. That's when I understood. The bubble didn't get rid of me. It was transporting me.

-o-o-o- (five minutes later)

I took a deep breath of fresh air when that damn bubble finally popped at the entrance in front of the Agreste-mansion. Seriously, that thing did let air inside, so you didn't suffocate in them, but the constant smell of soap around you starts to give you a headache after a while.

„Ugh, how about you call me an uber next time you want me to be somewhere?", I groaned as I saw the Bubbler hover on one of his bubbles above me, „Then again that would require someone with a driving-license to actually be around…"

Next thing I noticed were the many other bubbles that landed and popped all around me. Alya, Chloe, Kim, Max, everyone from my class joined in. Well, except Marinette and Adrien, but that's for different reasons…

„You guys are here too?", I asked in confusion for the sole purpose of not seeming suspicious. aNot sure if Alya bought it, judging by the skeptical expression she sent me, but the rest seemed to take it.

„Ugh, who do you think you are to just drag me across all of Paris in that filthy, stinking bubble of yours.", Chloe complained to the Bubbler, „My make-up is a complete mess because of you."

„Take that nasty attitude and throw it out the window, Fancypants!", the Bubbler took word, „This is Adrien's birthday-party, so you'd better party like your life depended on it."

The hint wasn't even subtle, and easy to understand. Party or die. „This world's use for violence is a lot more extreme than I remember.", I thought to myself, a cold sweat running down my back, „I don't remember anyone speaking in death-threats before. …Well, time for an idiot-move now!"

„Forced fun isn't fun, you know?!", I called up to him, „And forced fun with a death-threat over your head is the exact opposite of fun!"

"So you wanna ruin the mood, huh?", the Bubbler replied, gripping his… let's call it a sword for now, behind his head, to which I answered, "The mood was ruined the moment you messed everything up. Now can you PLEASE bring the adults back? I kinda need someone to run the donation-shops so I don't starve to death."

"Listen, dude, whatever you want, it can wait 'till later, got it?", Akuma-Nino tried to cut the conversation short, "This is Adrien's party, and it doesn't have room for party-poopers!"

"Which is why there's room for an akumatized bubble-themed mass-kidnapper, I guess?", I asked sarcastically, causing him to fling another giant bubble in my direction. Or somewhere NEAR my direction, as he missed completely and that thing floated in the sky with a balloon in it instead. I didn't even have to dodge that. It just flew past without me moving an inch.

"Okay, I can take a hint. I'll shut up now.", I accepted the warning, but just HAD to add, "Just don't make me regret that decision."

I turned towards the door like everyone else, ending the conversation… for now.

But soon enough, I felt a nudge against my side, and when I looked, it was Alya who was trying to get my attention. "What are you doing?", she whispered to me, her voice sounding confused, "Won't you at least try to fight that guy?"

Of course she would ask me that. "No, not unless it's the only choice I have."

"Come on, dude, I have little sisters at home who are crying their eyes out right now.", Alya tried to convince me, "Can't you pull out those crazy moves of yours from yesterday again?"

"Not really.", I denied strictly, and already began to explain before she would ask me to do so, which she DEFINITELY would have, "For three reasons.

First, you all are still here. I can't fight him without endangering all of you, which I definitely want to avoid.

Second, I'm pretty much powerless against this guy. He's flying way higher than I could ever reach and has basically unlimited range. There is nothing I can do that would change this situation for the better.

Third, I seriously can't bring myself to risking my life a second time in just two days. Sorry, but there are limits to what I can handle."

"Fine, I get your point.", Alya answered, though she seemed a bit annoyed at my refusal, "But you'd better be prepared for when you're needed."

The way she phrased that sentence made me sceptical. There was something under that statement that she was implying. But I really couldn't pinpoint what she meant.

-x-x-x-

Adrien came out of the door a few minutes later, and was greeted by our collective cheer and Akuma-Nino's announcement: "Hey hey hey, birthday boy! Guess what?! Your old man's gone! While the cat's away the mice will play!"

"Wha- Nino?!", Adrien called out in shock, and made me get into a hidden rage. Seriously, this dude can recognize who THE BUBBLER is, even though his stature, face, demeanour and even a bit of the voice were entirely different, but is completely clueless to LADYBUG'S identity? The girl who literally only wears a different outfit than as a civilian?! This guy DESPERATELY needed an appointment at the doctor!

"The Bubbler has brought all your friends here for one single purpose: To CE-LE-BRATE!", the Bubbler proclaimed excitedly.

He jumped down from his bubble and behind his DJ-board, where he started to play his party-music, which, no offence to the composers of this show's soundtrack or Nino's DJ-skills, sounded really generic. Like put-it-anywhere-else-and-it-fits-all-the-same-generic.

„Come on! I brought you here to party! So dance or you're gonna join the adults in the sky…!", the Bubbler pushed even more. As to not piss that bastard off, the entire class started to dance to it, though everyone was clearly not that excited about it. Including Adrien, who retreated back in the house mere seconds later. At least for now.

Wasn't long until the birthday boy came back out and mixed himself amongst the rest of us anyway, as obviously the only one who had a bit of fun. Jeez, that's exactly why I hated this moment. I guess it makes sense that he would love getting to do what he wants for once, but goddamn was this a lot of cringe right now.

Not to mention, it took him forever to notice something was off. That being that no one really enjoyed being here, which should have been obvious. But hey, these people taking forever to notice something that should be obvious, was nothing new. Lies, excuses, moods, secret identities… Okay, so one of these things is not like the others, but it's the same thing!

Ah, now was the point where Sabrina and Chloe asked for a slower dance. Thank god, this shit was getting exhausting, and the music was starting to get annoying. At least I knew how to dance classic dances.

And guess who just so happened to grab MY arms to pair-dance? Once more journalist extraordinaire. Alya Cesaire, who was starting to get really impatient, „Seriously, dude, you HAVE to do something!"

I most certainly don't! Mostly because we have heroes for that sort of thing!", I protested, which did literally nothing to stop her though, „Come on! You can't just ignore all of this stuff, right?"

Watch me do it right now.", I replied, making Alya groan annoyed, „Are you for real?"

What the heck do you expect me to do?", I tried wiggling my way out of this, which… didn't exactly work, „I dunno, maybe weaponise whatever you have in that nifty backpack of yours? Maybe chuck it right at him or something?"

Yeah no, I ain't got no deathwish just yet.", I declined that idea right off the bat. I still needed that stuff for later, „But you're welcome to do so in my place if you really want to pick a fight with that guy!"

What? Why would I even consider that?", Alya questioned, which I answered, „Well YOU'RE the one who keeps looking for a fight with the Bubbler!"

Well, I'm not you!", the girl defended herself, „I wouldn't even be able to throw that thing all the way over there!"

Well then you're just outta luck for now, I guess!", I argued, „'Cause I sure as hell ain't gonna do that anytime soon!"

Suddenly the music switched over to… what was that? Pop-music? Sounds a lot like pop-music. Then again my knowledge of regular music was next to nothing. I was more knowledgeable in the video game-section of music.

Anyway, the point is, that the music changed again, making the dancing pairs separate again and agitating the Bubbler in doing so, „Hey, that's none of my records! Who just hijacked my mix?"

I noticed Ladybug standing on the wall around the mansion, casually giving a one-liner for the memes, „Yours truly.", before jumping down behind the wall again.

And what a coincidence that Marinette came through the gate and gathering cookies from the buffet mere seconds later, only to get greeted by a concerned Alya, „Where were you? I was so worried something happened to you!

„Ahaa, me too!", Marinette laughed her way out of this. And for some reason Alya didn't even pay it a second thought, „Don't worry, I'm sure Ladybug and Chat Noir will set things right. Meanwhile, I have something to show you."

„Aaactually, I have… something to do…!", Marinette tried to escape again, but Alya called over her shoulder, „It's about Adrien…!"

Aaaand that was all it took to convince Marinette. Two short blinks, and few words exchanged with her bag later, she followed her bestie without a care in the world. „Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you: The saviour of Paris."

-x-x-x-

This was the point where things started to go south. Ivan had clearly had enough of pretending to have fun, and just sulked in the corner until the Bubbler approached, „Hey, why aren't you having fun?"

„That's none of your business.", Ivan grumbled back. When I recognized the situation, I reacted quickly and got my tent-pole out of my bag.

„Then I'm gonna make it my business.", the Bubbler replied menacingly, and took out his bubble-sword-thing, causing Ivan's annoyed mood to be replaced by fear.

And NOW was the point I interfered. I stretched out the pole to its maximum, and when Akuma-Nino prepared for a big swing, he was immediately interrupted by a solid hit to the face, „I told you to not make me regret that decision!"

„And I told YOU not to ruin the mood!", he replied, and swung a bubble in my direction instead. Didn't have very good aim though, as it took me just one step to the side to get out its line of fire, „And I told YOU that the mood was already ruined when you started to mess everything up! Now you're just making matters worse by condemning everyone who doesn't enjoy your forced fun to hell. Or the sky, I guess."

„I don't need YOU to tell ME how to throw an awesome party! Huargh!" A whole line of small bubbles coming my way, which I dodged by throwing myself to the floor and letting them fly over me, „Maybe you should take propositions for betterment! YEET!"

And with that I straight up chucked my stick in his direction. He nullified that attack without any effort though, by just blocking it with his bubble-sword, letting it fall to the side. What he DIDN'T see coming though, literally, was me coming his way while he was distracted by my staff-attack. Now I was standing directly in front of him, taking the moment of surprise to use my insultingly buffed up arms for a good cause: Punching him straight in the gut, knocking the air out of him!

Okay, just a little fun-fact for everyone who never got to experience that: The skin of the bubbler literally felt the same like the rubber of his bubble-like costume.

Anyway, digression aside, while he was wheezing for breath, I took my chance: „Combo time!" I was able to give him an Uppercut, as well as sweeping his feet off the ground, making him fall. But then on the floor, he gripped my leg and smashed me in the ground effortlessly, making my head ache again and giving me a nauseous feeling.

„You think you're so cool and brave, huh? Just because you had the guts to stand up to one villain you think of yourself as a civilian-hero or something?", the Bubbler lectured me as I laid there on the ground, trying to shake off that nasty nausea, „Well, a bit of high air might set your head right again!"

Next thing I knew, I was engulfed in another bubble, this time floating straight upwards. „That… actually lasted longer than I had expected…", I thought to myself, as the ground became more and more distant. „Well, now to wait until I'm out of sight. And to pray to god or Astruc that this will work…"

-o-o-o- -w-w-w- (Narration)

It took Manuel a whole two minutes until he deemed himself out of sight. And that would most likely have been even more, if his bubble hadn't caught a slight breeze carrying him away gently.

Okay… This should be far enough away now…", he thought to himself, and rummaged around in his backpack again. He pulled out a small needle he had found in the trash-containers, and poked it in the bubble. The thing popped instantly, against his expectations even, and he fell straight down to his death.

Next thing he pulled out of his backpack was the fabric-part of the tent, gripping two ends of it and made it spread over his head. Just as his judgement indicated, it was wind-proof, allowing the boy to misuse it as a parachute. „I feel like freaking McGyfer right now…"

It took him quite some time to get to the ground again though. Like, so long he willingly folded his chute back together to speed things up. When he DID reach the ground though, the only thing he allowed himself to worry about was his unofficial task: „Where is that damn third darkstone?"

While in the bubble, he felt the dark aura erupt once more, so judging by everything that happened up to now he was sure one had to be around somewhere again. Even now he sensed it rise and fall again.

But as much as he concentrated, he couldn't pinpoint where exactly the aura was coming from. Only that it was somewhere NEAR the Agreste-mansion. Without a clue on where exactly to find it. „A game of finding the needle in the hay… Greaaat.", he groaned annoyed and restructured his thoughts, „Okay, the only clue I have up to now is the Agreste-mansion, so that's where I'm gonna go for now and we'll see from there."

He looked around, noticing that it was gonna be quite a walk all the way back there. „Really wish I had some music to this." As if he jinxed it, the bored-BGM came up, making him sigh, „You know, I was thinking something like ‚Rooftop Run – Daytime' from Sonic Unleashed or something, to get me hyped up to run, but fine. If that's all I'm gonna get, I'll take it!"

-o-o-o-

„That damn bubble pushed me quite far away.", Manuel realized, as he had already run a solid five minutes straight and still wasn't getting anywhere near the mansion.

He slumped down, out of breath and exhausted, his legs being as sore as they could get. „Damn it all. I was able to run for ten minutes straight without breaking a sweat. I HATE this damn extra-weight I have to carry on my arms!"

He just laid there in the middle of the street, trying to catch his breath, but something else caught his attention. Or rather, was desperately trying to get his attention, as it stood above him, and kept shaking him around, „Hey! Buddy, you good?! Come on, wake up!"

„Urgh… I already have a headache, please stop shaking me like that…", Manuel groaned as he stood up. Whoever was shaking him before was now standing beside him, breathing easier now, „Oh good, you're okay. Don't give me a heart attack like that!"

He looked down to where the voice came from, and recognized his companion as a fairly short girl. What he didn't recognize though, was her identity. That's a long way for saying, he had no clue who she was.

This mysterious girl was, as stated before, incredibly short. As in, even shorter than Mylene. Maybe around 1,20 meters, but not much more. However, she didn't exactly seem too young, as evidenced by her already maturing voice. Manuel would have guessed her to be around the age of the rest of the main-cast, so between 13 and 15 years.

The girl was wearing a pale-blue Tank-top and grey trousers. On her arms she was wearing thin yellow bracelets, and her shoes were in a pale yellow as well.

However, the thing that stood out the most to Manuel, aside from her seemingly being a dwarf-halfling, was her bright blue hair colour. It was a stronger colour than the sky, giving it even more presence. And her hairstyle, that had it pushed back and out of her face, made him subconsciously draw parallels to the wind. „Could she be a professional runner, despite her size?"

„You shouldn't just take a nap in the middle of the streets you know?", the girl lectured him, „What if a car happened to drive by?"

„Apart from that probably driving over me without the tires coming anywhere near me,", Manuel switched to being a sarcastic smartass, „there are no adults around to drive them right now anyway."

The girl was taken aback by his answer, but laughed just a second later, „Hahaha! You're fun! I like that!" She slapped him on the shoulder, needing to jump to even do that, and then pulled him away at his hand, „Come on! Let's gather up with the others!"

„O-Others?", Manuel asked confused.

-x-x-x-

Not even a minute later he met with an abundance of teenagers and children, all gathered on a big plaza. And right on the front he saw the kid he had met at noon. „Oh god, they are taking me in too."

„Heeeey! I found another one!", the blue-haired girl called out, and a small part of the group gathered around them, making Manuel's anxiety kick in again.

„Hey! It's you!", the child from noon cheered happily, „I thought we would never find you!"

The voices overlapped around him, and it caused him to scream from the top of his lungs, „STOOOOP!"

The group looked at him, confused at his outburst, as they watched him calm his hyperventilation. „Just… what's going on here?"

„Well, my little siblings all told ME that someone else told THEM to gather all the kids around one place so that we wouldn't get into Ladybug and Chat Noir's way.", the blue-haired girl explained, „Sooo, you know, here we are."

„Yeah, that was him, Soleil!", the child explained, while Manuel made himself a mental note that this girl's name was Soleil. „Just like the french word for ‚Sun'. Whoever wrote this shit was uncreative as hell."

„Well, in that case, I guess I owe ya my thanks.", Soleil jumped right ahead, „You managed to calm my siblings down while I was panicking and not sure what to do. Seriously, that was awfully nice of ya."

„Pfft, please, I was just being a decent human-being…", Manuel replied embarrassed, but Soleil kept nagging, „Thank you all the same, man! But by the way, you still think you can help Ladybug and Chat Noir out? 'Cause if so, we'd be honoured to help YOU!"

Manuel looked around. There were a lot of abandoned cars around, and he still had a driving-licence… at least at home. „There would be one thing you could help me out with."

„Okay, sure! Just tell us what to do!", Soleil jumped at the opportunity to help, making Manuel explain, „I have to get to the Agreste-mansion! And I could get there a lot faster with a car! I need you all to clear me a way so I can get through here!"

-o-o-o-

That was NOT my intention!", Manuel groaned on the inside, "NOW how do I get out of this?"

"Okay, just keep going straight, until I tell ya to turn left!", Soleil told him, as they both drove around the town as fast as they could get, "But maybe slow down a bit. I don't wanna end up in jail because of speeding."

"Who's gonna stop us?", Manuel asked by the way, "The police sure as hell ain't around right now."

"Yeah, but do you really think it's safe to drive like a hundred miles per hour in a city?", the girl asked unsurely, but Manuel didn't pay it too many thoughts, "No matter what happens, the Miraculous Ladybugs will cure everything anyway, provided that Ladybug succeeds in her battle. But if you aren't feeling well you can get out anytime."

"Hell no, I ain't going nowhere until we have finished our mission!", Soleil denied instantly, but what pierced Manuel's ears were two specific words, "We?! OUR mission?!"

"What's so weird about that?", Soleil asked confused, "We tryna screw over a supervillain here! We're partners in crime!"

Manuel paused for a moment, and then requested in a most serious tone, "Never! EVER! Say that again! What I'm doing doesn't really-"

"TURN LEFT NOW!", Soleil cut him off suddenly, making Manuel to let out an ear-piercing shriek as he turned left as hard as the car would go. And, in doing so, caused the car to fall over and stay on the side.

"Soleil… Why didn't you tell me like two corners earlier when to turn…?", Manuel groaned annoyed as he laid on the ground once more.

"WOO Haha!", Soleil cheered, as she fought her way out of the car, "So THIS is what you do when you support superheroes! I LOVE it!"

"I would abandon this job the moment I would get the chance…", Manuel sighed, thinking about home for a moment. He missed it already. "Hey, you good there? Your giving me a deja-vu over here."

"It's YOU'RE, dammit. How hard can that be?", the boy sighed, as he got up and out of the car, "Anyway, let's get going. It's close now."

"What is close now? What are you looking for?", the girl asked again, but Manuel dismissed her again, "I… can't really explain it to you. I don't really understand it myself."

-x-x-x-

Soon enough, in an alleyway near the Agreste-mansion, Manuel sensed and found the dark stone, all the while being closely followed by the girl half his size, forcing him to try and supress his anxiety.

"There it is.", Manuel talked to himself as he held the stone in his hand, "Time to take it down." He let it drop to the ground and Soleil asked curiously, "Sooo what are we gonna do with that thing? What DOES that thing do anyway?"

"Essentially, I think, it boosts the villain's power.", Manuel explained half-heartedly, making his self-proclaimed partner in crime beam with excitement, "Oh cool! So what do we do with it? Do we seal it away? Neutralize its power? Absorb it to strengthen ourselves?"

Manuel just stomped on it as he had done twice before, destroying the thing under his sole, kind of disappointing Soleil, "Okay… Kind of… straight to the point, don'tcha think?"

"It's the only thing I know to stop these things from doing their bullshit.", he explained sparsely, "Well, my job is done here. There is nothing else I can do now. See ya around, Soleil."

"Huh? Wait!", Soleil called out and running after him again, "That's just it? You're just gonna leave? Just like that?"

He looked at her, fairly confused, "What exactly more do you expect?"

"I- Uhh- I don't know. Some hero-poses maybe? A catchphrase? Some flashy power stuff to do something?", she suggested, leaving him rather uninterested though, "Listen, I'm not a hero like Ladybug or Chat Noir. I just destroy the villain's power-boost-source. Nothing flashy about that."

"Y-Yeah, but…" Soleil didn't know what to say. Consciously she knew that it wasn't as spectacular as fighting the villain head on, but it still felt like more than just some by-the-way-stuff like Manuel made it out to be.

"Listen, I gotta go. Perhaps we'll run into each other again in the future.", Manuel said his goodbyes, and just took off, leaving Soleil rather unsure on what to do next behind. The magic Ladybugs soon repaired everything again, meaning it was all finally over.

-e-e-e-


A/N: Oh boy, this chapter turned out ENTIRELY different than I had thought! It just happened without me noticing! xD It also got way longer than I had wanted. Like, literally twice as long. So I'm sorry if it feels rushed around the end, but I just didn't know how to come to an end!
Please leave some constructive criticism if you have ideas on how I can improve. Other than that, I hope you enjoyed this chapter nonetheless and I hope you have a great week! :D

Next time on Tale of superheroes and animations: Manuel is getting more and more frustrated. Master Fu is out of reach, Soleil just won't leave him alone anymore, for some reason Alya doesn't leave him out of sight, and he is no step closer to getting home. How could someone possibly get even more vulnerable to an Akuma?